Government support for UK businesses trading with Africa is welcomed by the FPB as they await further support for SMEs

Forum of Private Business 18 September 2017 15:05

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Forum of Private Business is urging the government to go further to support business today, after it welcomed the government’s initiative to support UK businesses trading with Africa.

On Sunday it was announced that the UK’s export credit agency will double support for trade with South Africa to up to £3.5 billion, meaning an extra £1.75 billion will be available for UK companies exporting to South Africa and for South African buyers of UK goods and services.

Ian Cass, Chief Executive of the FPB, said: “While we welcome the support for businesses trading in this region, we are urging the government to go further by backing our Get Britain Trading campaign. In her speech in Florence on Friday the Prime Minister must make reference to the need for continued trade with Europe and further afield too."

The Forum's Get Britain Trading campaign has six key elements and after receiving backing from former Chancellor George Osborne, Mr Cass hopes that senior government officials will begin to incorporate it into the governments longer-term plans.

Notes to editor:

The six key elements are:
1. Helping to improve the performance and productivity of members
2. Re-launching the ‘Hall of Shame’ to highlight bad behaviour of UK businesses, which damage the trust and reputation of UK PLC.
3. Ethical and compliant behaviour from businesses, for which the Forum has developed an Ethical Workbook and a Compliance Handbook, both of which are being circulated to members in the coming months.
4. Creation of a Business Partner Scheme, with members registering to host Ministers, local MPs, Civil Servants and Educational Establishments to come and work within their businesses for a few hours, and gain a deeper understanding of the issues that they face on a day to day basis.
5. Provision of clear and direct feedback from members to Government with a view to ensuring all initiatives from Government are kept simple and workable.
6. Lobbying for a smooth Brexit transition and for a favourable post-Brexit business environment, across the Forum’s already issued Post Brexit Plan.

About Forum of Private Business

The Forum of Private Business is a not-for-profit comprehensive business support organisation founded in 1977. Our membership is spread throughout the UK and primarily made up of companies that employ between 1-50 employees, helping them to manage employees, saving time, giving advice, support and protection where a business needs it.

We are a recognised leading authority on business issues and represent the interests of business owners on many consultative bodies. We have built a solid reputation, being influential in many areas of policy-making, in changing laws that affect small businesses, and we continue to campaign for the fair treatment of businesses within the UK.

Everything we do is about making sure our members’ businesses operate profitably. This means that every penny we make goes back in to supporting our members, providing the support and resources that will enable businesses to flourish and grow.